Barrow
Barrow names 4 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Barrow a heap of earth or stone raised over a place of burial
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a heap of earth or stone raised over a place of burial. The earth tumulus of Greece, the stone cairn of Scotland, the Indian mound of America, and, indeed, the pyramids of Egypt, all belong to the same class of sepulchral monuments. Barrows are particularly numerous in England, and are classified according to their shape into round, long, conical, etc., barrows. When opened, the English barrows reveal the remains of the dead, frequently in rude stone chests, accompanied by arms and implements of the chase. The spearheads, arrow points, and other implements belong to three distinct ages. The earliest are of flint and bone, the next of bronze, and the more recent of iron. The term barrow is to be associated with burg, berg, or burgh, a height or hill. It has no connection with bury, and none with barrow in wheelbarrow. The latter is related to bier, a frame on which to carry. See Burial
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an artificial mound or tumulus, of stones or earth, piled up over the remains of the dead. Such erections were frequently made in ancient times in our own land, and are numerous in many countries. In Scotland they are called cairns. Burial in barrows seems to have been practiced as late as the 8th century A. D. One of the finest barrows in the world is Silbury Hill, Wiltshire, near Marlborough. It is 170 feet in perpendicular height, 316 along the slope, and covers about five acres of ground.
Barrow ISAAC, an English mathematician and clergyman
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ISAAC, an English mathematician and clergyman, born in London, 1630; studied at the Charterhouse and in at Trinity College, Cambridge. After a course of medical studies he turned to and graduated anew at Oxford in 1652. In 1659 he was ordained; in 1660 elected Greek professor at C Cambridge; in 1662 Professor of Geometry in Gresham College; in 1663, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. In 1670 he was created D. D., in 1672 Master of Trinity College, and in 1675 Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University. He died in 1677. His principal mathematical works (written in Latin) are: "Elements of Euclid" (1655); "Data of Euclid" (1657); "Mathematical Lessons" (1664- 1666); "Lessons in Geometry" (1670); "Works of Archimedes"; "Spherics of Theodosius" (1675). All his English works which are theological were left in MSS., and published by Dr. Tillotson, in 1685. As a mathematician Barrow was deemed inferior only to Newton.
Barrow a term applied to three prominent localities of the Arctic Ocean
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a term applied to three prominent localities of the Arctic Ocean, in honor of Sir John Barrow. (1) Point Barrow on the N. coast of Alaska, in 71° 23' N. lat. and 156° 31' W. long., long considered as the most northerly spot on the American mainland. (2) Cape Barrow, on the coast of Canada, or Coronation Gulf, is at 68° N. lat., 111° W. long. (3) Barrow Strait, the earliest of Parry's discoveries, leading to the W. out of Lancaster Sound, which Parry's immediate predecessor, Captain, afterward Sir John Ross, had pronounced to be landlocked in that direction. Besides its main course to Melville Sound, Barrow Strait throws off Prince Regent's Inlet to the S. and Wellington Channel to the N. The passage averages about 50 miles in breadth, extending nearly along the parallel of 74° N., from 85° to 100° W.
Barrow a river in the S
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a river in the S. E. of Ireland, province of Leinster, rising on the borders of the King's and Queen's counties, and after a southerly course joining the Suir in forming Waterford harbor. It is the next in importance to the Shannon, and is navigable for vessels of 200 tons for 25 miles above the sea.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 note that barrow grave-goods "belong to three distinct ages" of flint, bronze and iron was the best dating tool available; radiocarbon dating, developed from 1949, now gives calendar dates directly, placing most British round barrows in the earlier Bronze Age and long barrows earlier still. The richest excavation of all came in 1939, when the Sutton Hoo mound in Suffolk yielded an Anglo-Saxon ship burial and its gold and garnet treasure. Silbury Hill, which Collier's called in 1921 "one of the finest barrows in the world" at 170 feet high, is in fact about 100 feet and, after excavations in 1968-70 and again in 2007, is thought to contain no burial at all. Two names in Collier's other entries have since moved: the King's and Queen's counties of the Barrow's headwaters became Offaly and Laois after Irish independence in 1922, and the Alaskan town at Point Barrow readopted its Inupiaq name, Utqiagvik, in 2016. Isaac Barrow's entry still reads well, though he is now remembered less for editing Euclid than for the geometrical work that anticipated the calculus, and as the man who resigned the Lucasian chair to Newton.
Written for this edition, 2026.